Idaho Gives 2023 – Hadassah’s Story

Hi! My name is Hadassah Jacobsen, a 21 year old homeschool graduate and I am here to tell you a little about myself and my experiences with Aletheia Christian College. I first crossed paths with this amazing church and school when I attended a sermon at what was Winter Camp 2018, the sermon was by a friend my family has known for years, who had invited us along, and I met some awesome people my age there. From that meeting I began attending the youth group which was not any run of the mill, “let’s go bowling and get pizza” youth group like a few of the ones I have experienced.

We were constantly learning and discussing things about the Bible, the world around us, and other cultures (especially with half the kids and teens being of the Nepali culture) at a near-college level taught in a way that made our brains think for ourselves. I am somewhat of a wallflower and learn best by observing and absorbing and this weekly “class” as it was in many ways, helped develop that, but also come out of my shell a little more.

Though I was a little older, I went on to attend ACC Camp 2019 and had one of the best experiences of my life, the sole focus of the entire week being God, learning about Him, connecting with Him and praising Him, along with making lifelong friendships through Him.

The next couple of camps went similarly. (although please take note, every camp is different no matter how or what is planned, God always seems to have His own :))

Throughout the years I have learned so much from ACC, and the people there. I took an intensive 1 week long Greek language course, just for fun, and a semester of education classes, a few years ago.

Last year at camp, I was asked by a friend, “Hey, you coming to Egypt with us?” and safe to say I had never considered the idea of traveling to another country much, although throughout the years before this, the subject kept coming up for me. I understand how important it is to travel and experience another culture firsthand, and so I prayed about it and ended up taking an Old Testament Survey course through ACC over these last two semesters and have been deep studying the entire Old Testament, from the Torah, to Wisdom Literature, to the Prophets, all while learning to use exegesis and highlighting somatic gesture, deep diving into covenant and what it meant to God and these people and cultures of ancient times. Along with fun research projects on said people and cultures.

I also have been studying the Hebrew language and learning to read and translate it which really surprised me how hand-in-hand this goes with studying the Old Testament, and also touching on its connections with Greek as well later on in the ancient timeline.

As I said before about me being mostly involved with kitchen help at camp, this year I am possibly going to be teaching a little segment on Hebrew itself. For me, talking, teaching, but also connecting or being vulnerable when I need to be is something I struggle heavily with, which also brings me to the Egypt trip. I want God to use me in the ways He needs to, and I feel that requires me stepping out of my comfort zone quite a bit. And learning to be ok with that is something that I need to work on. And perhaps this opportunity is His way of showing me that I can, with experiencing God conjointly with another culture that is based significantly around somatic gesture and connecting on a level deeper than just speaking as a form of communication.

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